The present Invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Astrantia plant, botanically known as Astrantia involucrata, and hereinafter referred to by the cultivar name Snow Star.
The new Astrantia is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Lisserbroek, The Netherlands. The new Astrantia originated from a self-pollination made by the Inventor of unidentified selections of Astrantia involucrata. The new Astrantia was selected by the Inventor in 1994 in a controlled environment from the resultant progeny on the basis of its large white inflorescences.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by divisions harvested in Lisserbroek, The Netherlands, has shown that the unique features of this new Astrantia are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
Plants of the cultivar Snow Star have not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, light intensity, daylength, irrigation amount and frequency, and fertilizer rate without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be the unique characteristics of xe2x80x98Snow Starxe2x80x99. These characteristics in combination distinguish xe2x80x98Snow Starxe2x80x99 as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Upright plant habit.
2. Vigorous growth habit.
3. Freely and continuous flowering habit.
4. Large inflorescences with showy involucral bracts that are white with green apices.
Plants of the cultivar Snow Star can be compared to plants of the Astrantia major cultivar Alba. Plants of the cultivar Snow Star differ from plants of the cultivar Alba in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Astrantia are taller than plants of the cultivar Alba.
2. Plants of the new Astrantia have larger inflorescences than plants of the cultivar Alba.
3. Plants of the new Astrantia flower for a longer period of time than plants of the cultivar Alba.